Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to meteorological data processing and display systems, and more specifically to systems and methods of calculating and displaying localized hail activity.
Description of the Related Art
There is currently a lack of precision in automated processing and reporting of the intensity of a hail storm. That is to say that the size, density, and duration of hail at a particular location is not readily available and in a format for consumption in order to take meaningful action in response to the hail data. Limited processing and reporting is available for one of the options but not all three. For example, current reporting may readily show “quarter size hail,” but fail to readily include the duration of that hail size during the hail event or only indicate that hail of that size occurred in a broad region of a metropolis.
This lack of precision in hail storm data has business-wide adverse impact. For example, in the insurance industry, insurance adjusters must investigate and prove or disprove claims after a hail storm. Due to the nature of a hail storm, a large number of reports for investigation are received afterward in a short period of time. Time can be of the essence in investigating such claims due to the liability of the insurance company. As more time passes between the hail storm and the insurance investigation, the more difficult it is to establish the hail storm as the cause of damages to property. Currently an adjuster's primary option is to visit the insured sites without being able to prioritize the insured sites by probability of meaningful damage, resulting in inefficient use of limited time.
Again, the deficiency in processing of historical meteorological data for intensity of hail storms in a readily used format is shown in the insurance industry. The fundamental approach of insurance is to spread risk across the pool of the insured. Additionally, the decision to underwrite and the premiums assessed are adjusted based on the potentially insured party. Currently, the lack of precision in hail storm data processing and reporting limits the ability use the historical data to focus on prior hail storm events for a localized area and thus make meaningful underwriting decisions.
For the above reasons, it would be advantageous to have a system and methods of processing and displaying hail event data in a readily perceptible format.